Daniel Gros is Director of the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies. He has worked for the International Monetary Fund, and served as an economic adviser to the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the French prime minister and finance minister. He is the editor of Economie Internationale and International Finance.

Reagan took office with little debt. You can not compare.
The Euro was a miscarriage that is maintained on life support. If Europeans really understood how the Eurosystem really works, pitchforks would sold out.
When monetary policy proves inefficient, then comes fiscal policy, until it too, fails miserably. The last chapter is called currency manipulation.
Absent any external shock, the Euro is pure nirvana to Germany (only to Germany). But any external shock is a double whammy for Germany as its exports collapse and its debtors may default.
So easy to break the Euro indeed.
To divert attention from home problems, just create havoc in a far away place. So familiar right?

\if Trump can save the USA, will be a feat of "deal maker". Right now the dollar is going through some incredible problems.
SDRs are on the line of transitioning from dolar to some new monetary policy...The globalists will not loose their intent on globalizing.
Trump has his hands full.
I would not be surprised if he make NATO redundant and the Euro a side show.

You somehow managed to ignore that higher interest rates signify higher debt service (to you by the way), which for many countries is now above expenses with Education and other basic societal services. Oh I get it, as a Brussels-based talking head you have trouble understanding why your cheap labor would need that sort of thing. Well, let me reassure, over 25% of portuguese children (themselves dwindling lot by the way) now grow in poverty so you can be assured that the natural order of your universe is ever more solidly in place. Just wait until the ... hits the fan.

US action may ameliorate the EU's problems but it will not solve them and unless the underlying structural problems f the EZ are addressed the outcome inevitable. Furthermore it is hard to see how a modest uptick in the EU deals with issues like Frances 20% productivity deficit versus Germany. Kicking the can down the road becomes ever more difficult as the can gets bigger and the road runs out and more road needs building aka debt

Reaganomics resulted in massive public and private debt, crushing income inequality, financial malfeasance, and a culture of greed that continues to this day. Those who benefit from such policies are indeed back in power, so we can presume to see more of the same.

Fixed exchange rates across diverse economies, along with the foolishness imposed by growth and debt targets, has doomed the Euro from it's inception. Reaganomics merely transfers wealth from the poor to the wealthy. It might just be the straw that breaks the ECB's back.

The "European" Central Bank is not taxing but expropriating the German saver (with artificial interest rates below the inflation rate). This is not taxation without representation, this is expropriation without representation. It has to be denied that this "E"CB has anything to do with Europe - because Europe (once) stood for democracy and the rule of law.

In contrast to that, the credit default insurance for Club Med free of charge ("central banks continue to purchase their outstanding debts") can be in fact seen as taxation of the German saver - again taxation without representation and forbidden by law (TFEU art. 123!).

So we have expropriation of the German saver and on top of that taxation. Everything without representation because the German parliament was never asked - and would have certainly rejected such action.

Democracy is dying in Europe! Democracy in Europe is killed by the "EU"!

Gros and I both anticipate that "Trumponomics" will result in large budget deficits in the US, but we differ in our views regarding the likely impact of those deficits on the value of the dollar in relationship to other major currencies.
Gros seems to believe that the deficits will cause strong consumer and government demand in the US and that this somehow will lead to a stronger dollar and therefore benefit the Euro. I, on the other hand, believe that the deficits will lead to a weaker dollar.

I am waiting to see what happens with Trump and his Tax plan. If he does what he says, It will probably be the start of a worldwide cwar of corporate tax rate reductions: http://wsenmw.blogspot.com/2016/12/war-of-taxes.html

I think Daniel is a victim of wishful thinking. He is in for a rude surprise. If Trump is just a bubble promoter (large fiscal deficits, strong dollar, growing trade deficits), this will lead to utter economic collapse and chaos. If Trump balances trade as I hope he does, then Europe and the periphery are in a heap of trouble.

What if what we are witnessing is a fundamental change on the nature of US Bonds? What if agents start to perceive US Bonds has risky assets?l
I don’t think that European situation makes EU bonds a natural substitute (Deutsche bank almost bankrupt, lack of information and transparency on EU companies, etc), so agents will take refuge on blue chip companies. Now Europe is lackluster in blue chip companies, Germany specially, so what I think will happen is that Europe is going to see funds flow to the US, not in the form of Gvt Bonds, but to US Financial markets, and to the Big Blue chips in Korea, China and Japan.

With funds flowing out of Europe, trade will have to be positive reinforcing the position of the german neo-mercantilists, who can't understand that a trade super-havit actually means that investors preferr other markets to our own.

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